Why would I pretend..........

why do you jump to the wrong conclusions ?........................ Has anyone ever experienced nasty comments by other's who do not know their facts ? Let me explain - I recently went on a nice cruise ship holiday and took my wheelchair which I need frequently nowadays . I have Parkinson's Disease and my condition changes hourly as well as from day to day depending on medication effects and rest periods ,etc , Some days I can walk OK for short periods , other days not at all , and there is no pattern to it . Sometimes my tremors are uncontrollable , other times they are non existent . On this cruise ship other more able passengers made comments which I could clearly overhear such as , ' He is putting it on ' , ' Look at him now he can walk with his sticks ' , ' Look he used his right hand then ' , ' the guy in the wheelchair .. ? .' , ' watch him now ' , ' look see what I mean he can walk ' . These comments even continued on the plane home and just about ruined my holiday . I did not challenge them since to do so would have caused friction and distress which makes my tremors go into overload ! My wife would have caused a riot if she had heard them but I did not tell her until later and refused to identify the passengers just to keep the peace . The people who asked me outright what was wrong with me were really nice and wanted to understand more about Parkinson's , including most of the staff on this ship , why didn't the ignorant comment makers ask me instead of assuming ? ,.I am youngish and they could not see anything physically wrong me so I suppose I was fair game for criticism , but it hurt me . I will not go cruising again since the especially nasty comment - ' he is putting it on ' - was said . I wish they were right , at least it would be curable then . Parkinson's is very complex and affects everyone differently , with me it is tremors , mobility , stiffness and balance . The more people stared at me the more agitated I became and my tremors increased , so I suppose the comment - ' only when he has got an audience ' - was also true . How can people be so cruel as to think I am faking a serious illness ? It would be nice if they were right though - I could fix it then !
By Peterhappy @ yourable